Download Five Themes of Geography

FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY
Google Earth Activity:
5 Themes Overview
1. Location
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2. Place
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3. Region
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4. Movement
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5. Human
Environment
Interaction
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Absolute Location: an exact spot on the earth (latitude, and longitude)
Relative Location: one place in relationship to another (White Hall is
near Chipotle)
Physical: climate, landforms, bodies of water, plant animal life (earth’s
landforms
Cultural: cities and towns, governments, religion, education, language,
and traditions (human characteristics)
Group of places that have physical/cultural features in common. They
allow us to make spatial generalizations.
People, goods and ideas move from one place to another (immigration
and/or diffusion)
Adaptation: jobs, building homes, clothing, and sports
Interaction: people depend on, adapt to, and modify the world around
them.
This theme is about how people and their environment interact, how geography
influences the lives of people, and how people alter their geography to meet
their needs.
Step 1: Open Google Earth
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Remember you will need to turn on and off the “layers” as we navigate google earth. You will
find that sometimes they are very helpful and other times distracting.
Step 2: Location
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Absolute:
o Locate the search panel in the upper, left hand corner of your screen. Make
sure that the “Fly to” button is highlighted.
o Type in “Sears Tower” to fly to what is now known as the Willis Tower in
Chicago.
§ What are the exact coordinates (latitude and longitude) of this location?
Tip: The exact coordinates are located at the bottom of the google earth screen.
Latitude: _________________________
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Longitude: ________________________
Relative:
o Using the “Willis Tower” as your location, select a nearby location
(physical/human characteristic) and make a relative location statement.
Tip: You might need to scroll out to get a better picture of Chicago.
The Willis Tower is North of ________________________
The Willis Tower is South of ________________________
The Willis Tower is East of ________________________
The Willis Tower is West of _________________________
**On your Scribble Map, answer the following question: How does this example connect with the
theme of location? Why?
Step 3: Place
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Human Characteristics:
o Lets set our new “fly to” location to “Colosseum, Rome.” Make a factual
cultural statement about this location, using the information added by others
(i.e. wikepedia, photos). Tip: Be sure your 3D Buildings and Geographic Web layers are
turned on. Navigate around the Colosseum using your zoom in/out and toggle keys on the right
side of the Google Earth screen.
Fact about the Colosseum: ______________________________________________
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Physical:
o Zoom out from the Colosseum, in order to view all of Italy. Locate and name
the volcano just north of the Colosseum. Tip: Be sure your Volcanoes layer is turned
on.
Volcano Name: _______________________________________
**On your Scribble Map, answer the following question: How does this example connect with the
theme of place? Why?
Step 4: Human Environment Interaction
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Set your new “fly to” location to “Pará, Brazil.” Take a look around, then use the timeline
feature. The timeline goes back to 1975.
Compare the geography of Pará between then and now. Why do you think these changes
have happened? Etc. _____________________________________________________
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How is this an example of human/environmental interaction?
_______________________________________________________________________
Do you think it's a positive/negative interaction? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
**On your Scribble Map, answer the following question: How does this example connect with the
theme of human-environment interaction? Why?
Step 5: Region
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Let’s set our new “fly to” location to “Greenwich, England.” Once there, zoom all the way
out so that we are just viewing the earth. Locate and click on the “sun” tool in the upper
tool bar. Using the scroll bar, scroll to 12:00 A.M.
Using the “western” and “eastern” hemispheres as our regions, make generalizations about
these two hemispheres in regards to both the time and sunlight.
Finish these two thoughts:
The Western Hemisphere…._____________________________________________________
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The Eastern Hemisphere …..____________________________________________________
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Step 6: Movement
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Lets now “fly to” Ellis Island. Click on the Wikipedia link to learn about Ellis Island.
Explain how Ellis Island supports the “movement” theme.
Ellis Island supports the “movement” theme because ___________________________________
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